• BombOmOm@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    You’re paying taxes on those returns, and if you’re living off them, they’re considered short term investments and you pay a higher tax rate

    (US tax info) Investments are taxed as long term (the lower tax rate) if you hold them for at least a year. Meaning, after the very first year, there is no reason to every pay the higher short term capital gain rates. A solid strategy is to invest in index funds and hold them for decades. If you aren’t retired, put the dividends back into more index funds. The long term trends earn you (conservatively) 8% per year average.

    • 𝕽𝖚𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍
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      8 months ago

      The capital gains which you are, supposedly, drawing off of to live on (this was the original premise) is short term capital gains. The amounts you draw in your loss years are, yes, long term, and taxed at a lower rate, but that’s the hole in the boat causing your revenue stream to sink - the bigger problem is that what you draw from ROI is taxed at the higher rate.

      • EvacuateSoul@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        You don’t get taxed on losses, or on loss years, whatever that means tax-wise. You get taxed on gains, period, which is the increase over your basis. Less than a year held is short-term, more than a year is long.